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Whenever Hunter wanted something, he would pester her relentlessly until she gave in.
‘It would have been better to meet at the penthouse.’
Since the birth of Hunter's younger sister, Daisy, last year, Jiyu had become less reluctant to visit his home. Jiyu had always wanted a younger sister, and Daisy—squirming and smelling of milk—was simply adorable.
Whenever she went over for a playdate, Jiyu would find any excuse to sneak into Daisy's room. She would play with the baby, who had only just started taking her first steps, and then return to the playroom around the time it was time to go home to pick out a book to borrow.
In any case, Hunter didn't spare her a glance whether she came or went, unless he was begging her to read to him.
[Ah, is he asking me to read a book again...?]
Muttering to herself, Jiyu hesitantly placed her schoolbag on the entryway bench.
Hunter could now read on his own. Despite this, he often handed her a book and commanded her to read it aloud. It seemed he viewed her as some sort of audiobook.
When she had subtly complained about this to Ae-jeong, she only received a scolding in return.
“Listen, dear, where in the world is anything free? You're reading all the books in that house instead of him, so consider that the price. Just read whatever he asks for. How hard can it be?”
What was even more irritating was that once she reluctantly began reading, succumbed to his threats and coaxing, Hunter would either hang upside down from the pull-up bar, swinging back and forth, or do something else entirely, barely listening.
Feeling as if she were talking to thin air, Jiyu would steal a glance at him and stop; then, while practicing juggling with tennis balls, he would drop them all at once and scowl fiercely.
[Keep reading, until I tell you to stop.]
During their last playdate, she had to read three chapters of a fantasy novel based on Greek mythology until her voice went hoarse.
Was he calling her to read the next chapter?
She couldn't for the life of her understand why he refused to read books on his own when he knew how to. She had once wondered if he was slow, but after seeing him during his math tutoring sessions, she realized that wasn't the case.
Giving up on understanding, Jiyu tugged at Sun-ye's sleeve with a resigned expression.
“Ms. Sun-ye, I'm going to the treehouse.”
“Now?”
Sun-ye looked down at her, surprise etched in the wrinkles around her eyes.
“Yes. Hunter asked me to come out a moment ago. I think he wants me to read to him.”
“Hunter? Yes, yes. Go on, hurry. I'll make some snacks in the meantime.”
Sun-ye already knew that anything involving Hunter was an automatic green light in this house.
“Okay. I'll be back!”
Jiyu wound her way through the hallway, opened the heavy iron door leading to the courtyard, and stepped outside.
The afternoon sunlight poured slantwise over the elegantly curved bronze benches surrounding the garden's stone fountain. Both were fixtures of the place, having stood there since the apartment was built in the 1920s.
On one side of the courtyard stood a treehouse built to an adult's height. Because the residents tended to be older, children were rare in this apartment. Furthermore, outsiders were forbidden from entering the inner courtyard. Consequently, this place was practically a private playground for Hunter and Jiyu.
In the empty space beneath the long pillars of the treehouse was a rectangular sandbox. A yellow shovel and a half-broken blue plastic bucket that Hunter had played with as a young child were still half-buried in the sand.
A curved slide, shaped like an elephant's trunk, ran from the side of the treehouse to the ground, and a round tire swing hanging from a pole on the roof swayed gently in the breeze.
Hunter was a fast walker, and since Jiyu had intentionally walked slowly, he would have arrived long before her. Sure enough, a repetitive thumping sound, like someone knocking on wooden planks, could be heard.
He always carried tennis balls in his pockets or bag, and she didn't even have to look to know he was spending his time bouncing them against the wall. However, the sound was irregular, sounding strangely anxious.
Standing before the ladder, Jiyu took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment.
She was curious about why he had summoned her to the treehouse, yet at the same time, she didn't want to know the reason, whatever it might be. But today, curiosity won over caution.
As Jiyu placed one foot on the ladder, it let out a creak. The sound of the bouncing ball inside the treehouse stopped abruptly.
Climbing the ladder slowly, she ducked her head slightly to enter the treehouse. Back in second grade, she hadn't needed to duck to get through the entrance, but it seemed he had grown taller again in the meantime.
While it was blindingly bright outside, the inside of the treehouse was dim. She had to blink several times to adjust to the difference.
A play kitchen, a reception set, and a small sofa. Amidst the familiar scenery, Hunter, sprawled on the sofa in a delinquent posture, felt out of place. He usually played on the roof of the treehouse and rarely came inside, claiming it was too narrow and stifling to be fun.
[Jewel Parker. Why are you so late?]
Hunter interrogated her in a grumpy voice without so much as a greeting.
Jiyu wrinkled her nose slightly.
Jewel Parker.
Even though Hunter now knew how to pronounce the name ‘Jiyu’ correctly, he called her that as if even the correct pronunciation were too much effort. Every time he did, she remembered the voice that used to say, ‘Jewel Parker. I hate you.’
She had told him several times that if he was going to call her that, he might as well use her English name, Olivia, but he never listened.
Jiyu also skipped the greetings and went straight to the point.
[Why did you call me?]
With those words, she loaded as much resentment and annoyance as she possibly could. The urge to tell him not to act like they were close in front of other children, as he had earlier, rose to the tip of her tongue, but she managed to swallow it. It wasn't because she lacked courage. Having known him since they were very young, talking to Hunter wasn't particularly difficult.
However, in the books she read, children who spoke like that were almost always the ‘Mean Girl’ who bullied the protagonist. And the children who heard such words often ended up deeply hurt.
Jiyu didn't want to act like a mean girl.
‘Not that the self-centered Hunter Hamilton would even care.’
‘Self-centered’ was a word she had encountered in a book she read recently. As soon as she saw the word, Hunter naturally came to mind. The only person capable of tormenting Hunter Hamilton, for whom everything in the world went according to plan, was himself.
Jiyu pulled out a small chair from the reception set, sitting as far away from Hunter as possible. The sofa where Hunter sat crookedly, with one arm draped over the backrest, had usually been Jiyu's designated seat. Knowing that, the fact that he was occupying the entire space made him irritating.
[There's a tournament on Saturday.]
Hunter blurted out.
[…….]
Jiyu merely blinked with a sullen face.
Since last year, Hunter had begun participating in regional tournaments for the under-12 youth division twice a month. Lauren had invited Ae-jeong and Jiyu, and they had accompanied him twice. Thus, the fact that there was a tournament was nothing new.
[I said there's a tournament!]
He repeated, sounding frustrated. Only then did Jiyu slowly open her mouth.
[…So what?]
[Come.]
[Where?]
He pushed the words out through clenched teeth.
[The tournament.]
His bright blue eyes, which seemed to glow even in the dark, shot at her like laser beams. Jiyu's mouth hung open for a moment before she faintly furrowed her brows.
[You asked me to come all the way to the treehouse just to say that?]
Hunter had first held a tennis racket at the age of four, led by his father, Jerard Hamilton.
Tennis was a traditional sport of the Hamilton family, and Jerard himself had been the captain of the varsity tennis team during his time at Alton School.
Attending a tennis academy on Randalls Island twice a week after school, Hunter was invited to join the ‘elite’ player group in the year he turned eight.
He had been so insufferably arrogant after receiving that offer.
Jiyu had tilted her head, wondering what was so great about it that he was acting so wild, but the Hamilton family, realizing Hunter had a talent for tennis, moved quickly to provide full-scale support.
Of the three floors used by the Hamilton residence, the lowest was called the basement. The basement was occupied by the quarters for the employees—referred to as the ‘help’—a wine cellar, storage, and a large gym.
Last summer, a major renovation began to expand the gym and create a tennis court, which was completed in December of that year. Hunter received private lessons on that court and practiced with a state-of-the-art ball machine. With a fitness room on one side, he had everything a professional player would envy.
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